December 3, 2013

Worker falls four stories at Kyle Field construction site

A worker on the Kyle Field construction site fell four stories and was sent to an area hospital this afternoon, Texas A&M police said.

According to Rebecca Watts, senior communications specialist with the university, the worker is a 25-year-old male. She said the man fell from the fourth level landing on the northeast side of the stadium.

The exact nature of his inuries is not yet known. He was taken to St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan for treatment.

The incident occurred just after 11 a.m.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Worker-falls-four-stories-at-Kyle-Field-5031187.php?cmpid=hpfc .

December 3, 2013

Texas Department of Insurance proposes requirements on ACA navigators

The Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday proposed new state requirements of background checks and 40 hours of additional training for the “navigators” who help consumers sign up for health coverage under the new online marketplace created under the federal health law.

Navigators would have to register with the state and pay a $50 fee. They also would have to show they — or the organization that hired them — could make financial restitution to Texans harmed by their potential “wrongful acts.”

The state-mandated training would cover ethics, privacy and Texas Medicaid eligibility rules. In a one-hour written exam, navigator applicants would have to correctly answer at least 35 of 50 multiple-choice questions.

“In Texas, we are being vigilant about safeguarding privacy and keeping personal information out of the wrong hands,” said Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber.

More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/rathgeber-feds-rules-on-navigators-too-lax-need-tweaks.html/ .

December 3, 2013

Smile Center settles suits with 253 patients

The Smile Center, a San Antonio-based chain of six dental clinics, has settled lawsuits that accused it of performing “excessive” treatments on minors to “bilk” millions of dollars from Medicaid.

Terms of the settlement, which involved 253 patients, were not revealed.

The settlement was reached about a month ago but wasn't announced until a Monday hearing before state District Court Judge John Gabriel.

Smile Center owner Stephen Simpton, who also settled with the plaintiffs, didn't respond to a request for comment. Henry B. Gonzalez III, a lawyer for the Smile Center, declined to comment.

More at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Smile-Center-settles-suits-with-253-patients-5030453.php?cmpid=hptopstories .

December 3, 2013

Citywide water shortage closed Beeville ISD schools, Coastal Bend College campus

BEEVILLE — Beeville residents are facing a citywide water shortage Tuesday, and officials have issued a boil alert.

Beeville ISD Superintendent Sue Thomas said district employees are personally calling all parents to inform them schools would be closed as of 10 a.m.

Schools would be able to stay open by giving students bottled water if it was just a boil alert, she said, but the inability to flush toilets makes the situation unsanitary.

Thomas and Deputy Superintendent Erasmo Rodriguez both live outside the city limits, so they were unaware of the problem until this morning and got no advance warning from city officials.

More at http://www.caller.com/news/2013/dec/03/citywide-water-shortage-closed-beeville-isd-bend/ .

December 3, 2013

Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton gets DWI arrest expunged

Source: AP

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Alice Walton, the billionaire daughter of Wal-Mart Stores founder Sam Walton, has had a 2011 arrest for suspected drunken driving cleared from her record, after prosecutors declined to press formal charges in the case.

The arrest was expunged from Walton’s record during a hearing Monday in Parker County. Assistant Prosecutor Fred Barker told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in October that he expected Walton’s request to be granted and that case records would be destroyed. He declined to discuss the matter Monday.

“It’s a criminal offense to discuss any information related to an expunction. As such, we have no information to provide,” Barker said.

Walton, 64, was arrested on Oct. 7, 2011, on Interstate 20 at Farm Road 51. In September, officials said they would not file formal charges against Walton because the state highway trooper who arrested her has been suspended from his job.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/12/03/5388220/wal-mart-heiress-alice-walton.html?rh=1

December 3, 2013

Supreme Court will uphold tax penalty against Red McCombs and Gary Woods

WASHINGTON —

The Supreme Court says two Texans' partnership doesn't keep the IRS from penalizing them for what the agency called a sham tax shelter.

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the agency's 40 percent penalty against Gary Woods and Billy Joe "Red" McCombs, who held ownership positions with the San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Vikings.

The two men were involved in a tax shelter that was disallowed by the IRS. The agency then billed Woods and McCombs for the past taxes and added a 40 percent penalty, which they challenged in court.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the penalty. But Justice Antonin Scalia said for the unanimous court that the lower court's decision was reversed, the penalty was legal and could be applied in this case.

http://www.statesman.com/news/ap/texas/court-will-uphold-tax-penalty/nb9bW/

From Reuters:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously ruled that Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs must pay steep penalties to the Internal Revenue Service related to more than $45 million he tried to shield from taxes.

The decision could lead to the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and interest that the government has alleged other taxpayers owe in disputes similar to the McCombs case.

McCombs, former owner of the Minnesota Vikings football team, and his business partner Gary Woods in 1999 set up a partnership to run a tax shelter known as a "current options bring reward alternatives," or COBRA. It was designed to create financial losses to offset windfall gains McCombs was expecting.

The tax shelter itself had already been ruled a sham by lower courts. But McCombs and Woods argued that a 40 percent IRS penalty should not apply.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/usa-tax-mccombs-idUSL2N0JI0ZP20131203

December 3, 2013

T. Boone Pickens engaged to marry Toni Brinker

In matters of business, T. Boone Pickens is often ahead of his time. In romance, he is an old-school kind of guy—a marrying man. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Pickens and his girlfriend, Toni Brinker, gathered the bulk of their extended families at Boone’s Mesa Vista Ranch. On Saturday, they announced their engagement.

The couple plan to wed sometime early in 2014.

Toni is the widow of Dallas restaurant entrepreneur Norman Brinker, founder of Steak & Ale who had been, at various times, head of Jack in the Box, Burger King, Chili’s, Bennagin’s, as well as the venerable Brink’s coffee shop in Lakewood.

Last year, Boone was divorced from Madeleine Pickens following a seven-year marriage.

More at http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/peppard-t-boone-pickens-engaged-to-marry-toni-brinker.html/ .

[font color=green]I guess that what they say about people "settling" when they choose a spouse later in life is true. After all, T. Boone Pickens is only a millionaire instead of being a billionaire.[/font]

December 2, 2013

Fake Conscience Objections: Profits before People

By Dr. Brian Carr
President, Behavioral Health Associates, Lubbock, Texas, 1991-Present
Chairman, City of Lubbock Board of Health, 2013
Submitted on December 1, 2013 - 8:31am

This next week the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments from attorneys representing Hobby Lobby that detail their “Conscience Objections” to having to provide health care coverage for their employees that covers birth control.

The Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby have stated that their religious convictions do not allow them to cover their employee’s birth control.

Annalee Flower Horne, a practicing Quaker, notes strong support for conscience objections but takes exception with what Hobby Lobby is attempting to do. She states:

“As a Quaker, I believe in Conscience Protection. I believe people should have the right to refuse work that violates their principles. If a draft were called tomorrow, I would wholeheartedly support people’s right not to serve.

More at http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-12-01/fake-conscience-objections-profits-people .

December 2, 2013

How Rick Perry Wants to Use Block Grants to Have His Cake and Eat It Too

If you've been reading Burnt Orange Report, you know how Governor Rick Perry's refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is hurting Texans.

Perry has already made it clear that he will not expand Medicaid at all. But that doesn't mean he wants to leave the program the way it is.

Earlier this year, Perry petitioned the Obama administration for a Medicaid block grant, a type of grant that would give him federal money with few strings attached that regulated how he spent it. He'd asked for the same in 2011 and 2008, getting denied every time. That hasn't stopped Perry from continuing to push for Medicaid block grants.

Medicaid block grants are a policy proposal we've seen from Republicans time and time again. The GOP claims block grants will save Medicaid, but they are really an insidious Republican tactic to shrink Medicaid and insure fewer poor people overall. These claims are often cloaked in policy jargon, which makes it tough to understand how this plan works.

More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14460/how-rick-perry-wants-to-use-block-grants-to-have-his-cake-and-eat-it-too .

December 1, 2013

After All it is Their Fault

By Dr. Brian Carr
President, Behavioral Health Associates, Lubbock, Texas, 1991-Present
Chairman, City of Lubbock Board of Health, 2013
Submitted on November 30, 2013 - 8:15am

Those on the Extreme Right routinely operates on the assumption that bad things, e.g., cancelled policies, denied health care, pre-existing conditions etc., happen to people because they did something wrong - were lazy, lacked self control, made bad choices. They generally see success, wealth, good health, healthy children, good job, access to power as the result exclusively of hard work, cleverness, and moral uprightness. They, therefore, have no trouble stepping on the unfortunate because they believe that the situation of those in trouble is always their own fault.

Does this mean we throw in the towel, and return to a status quo in which insurance companies routinely cancel policies, deny health care to people with pre-existing conditions and have their own death panel treatment for patients who reach a cap in medical benefits?

The Extreme Right’s playbook has been to demonize the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. Melissa Hankins at Charlotte, North Carolina’s WBTV 3 reported that Darrell Issa’s ObamaCare “hearings” in Gastonia called “Obamacare Implementation: Sticker Shock of Increased Premiums for Health Care Coverage” weren’t exactly unbiased.

In fact, people who had positive things to say about the ACA were not only told they couldn’t speak, but they were told that if they spoke “out of turn” they’d have to leave.

More at http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/dr-brian-carr/2013-11-30/after-all-it-their-fault .